Methods and apparatuses to determine prices of communication leads

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods to determine prices for communication leads generated from pay for performance advertisements. In one embodiment, a method includes: providing an advertisement with a reference to customers on behalf of a specific party; facilitating communications between the party and a customer via the reference; and charging the party according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference. In one embodiment, a fee for the communication leads is determined according to the price bid specified by the party for the advertisement and at least one predetermined rule, which may be based on the geographic area of the advertisement, the categories of the advertisement, the price bids of a selected set of advertisements, and/or the query that causes the advertisement to be presented.

The present patent application is related to: U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/077,655, filed Mar. 10, 2005 and claimed priority fromProvisional U.S. Patent Application 60/653,708 filed on Feb. 16, 2005,Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/568,156 filed on May 4,2004, Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/560,926 filed onApr. 9, 2004 and Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/552,124filed on Mar. 10, 2004; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/092,309,filed Mar. 28, 2005 and claimed priority from Provisional U.S. PatentApplication 60/653,660 filed on Feb. 16, 2005; U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/095,853, filed Mar. 30, 2005 and claimed priority fromProvisional U.S. Patent Application 60/653,661 filed on Feb. 16, 2005;U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/014,073, filed Dec. 15, 2004; U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/872,117, filed Jun. 17, 2004; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/021,939, filed Dec. 23, 2004; U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/679,982, filed Oct. 6, 2003; and ProvisionalU.S. Patent Application 60/762,013, filed Jan. 24, 2006. The disclosuresof the above mentioned applications are incorporated herein byreference.

TECHNOLOGY FIELD

At least some embodiments of the present invention relate to telephonicconnections and advertising in general and performance-based advertisingin particular.

BACKGROUND

Telephone systems allow users to conduct real time two-way voicecommunication. Traditional land-line based telephone systems connect onetelephone set to another through one or more switching centers, operatedby one or more telephone companies, over a land-line based telephonenetwork. Traditionally, a telephone connection is based on a circuitswitched network.

Current telephone systems may also use a packet switched network for atelephone connection. A packet switched network is typical in a computerdata environment. Recent developments in the field of Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) allow the delivery of voice information usingthe Internet Protocol (IP), in which voice information is packaged in adigital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditionalcircuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network(PSTN).

Cellular networks allow a cellular phone to connect to a nearby cellularbase station through an air interface for wireless access to a telephonenetwork. Recent developments in wireless telephone systems allow notonly voice communications but also data communications. For example,cellular phones can now receive and send short messages through a ShortMessage Service (SMS). Web pages can now be retrieved through wirelesscellular links and displayed on cellular phones. Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) has been developed to overcome the constraints ofrelatively slow and intermittent nature of wireless links to accessinformation similar or identical to World Wide Web.

Telephone companies provide a number of convenient features, such ascall forwarding. Call forwarding of a telephone system allows a user ofa phone at a given phone number to dial a specific sequence on the phoneto cause the telephone system to forward incoming calls addressed to thephone number to another specified phone number indicated by the dialedsequence.

Telephone systems are frequently used in conducting business. Telephonenumbers are typically provided in advertisements, web sites,directories, etc., as a type of contact information to reach businesses,experts, persons, etc.

The Internet is becoming an advertisement media to reach globallypopulated web users. Advertisements can be included in a web page thatis frequently visited by web users. Typically, the advertisementsincluded in the web pages contain only a limited amount of information(e.g., a small paragraph, an icon, etc.). The advertisements containlinks to the web sites that provide further detailed information. Incertain arrangements, the advertisers pay the advertisements based onthe number of visits directed to their web sites by the links of theadvertisements.

Performance based advertising generally refers to a type of advertisingin which an advertiser pays only for a measurable event that is a directresult of an advertisement being viewed by a consumer. For example, paidinclusion advertising is a form of performance-based search advertising.With paid inclusion advertising, an advertisement is included within asearch result page of a key word search. Each selection (“click”) of theadvertisement from the results page is the measurable event for whichthe advertiser pays. In other words, payment by the advertiser is on aper click basis.

Another form of performance-based advertising includes paid placementadvertising. Paid placement advertising is similar to paid inclusionadvertising in that payment is on a per click basis. However, with paidplacement advertising an advertiser ranks a particular advertisement sothat it appears or is placed at a particular spot, e.g., at the top of asearch engine result page, thereby to increase the odds of theadvertisement being selected.

Both forms of performance-based advertising, i.e., paid placement andpaid inclusion, suffer from the limitation that an advertiser orparticipant within a paid placement or paid inclusion advertisingprogram is required to have a web presence, in the form of a web page.However, there are advertisers that either (a) do not have web pages, or(b) have web pages that are not effective at capturing the value of aweb visitor, and are therefore unable, or unwilling, to participate inthe traditional performance-based advertising, as described above.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods to determine prices for communication leadsgenerated from pay for performance advertisements are presented herein.Some embodiments are summarized in this section.

In one embodiment, a method includes: providing an advertisement with areference to customers on behalf of a specific party; facilitatingcommunications between the party and a customer via the reference; andcharging the party according to a price bid specified by the party inresponse to a lead to communications between the party and the customerfacilitated via the reference. In one embodiment, a fee for thecommunication leads is determined according to the price bid specifiedby the party for the advertisement and at least one predetermined rule,which may be based on the geographic area of the advertisement, thecategories of the advertisement, the price bids of a selected set ofadvertisements, and/or the query that causes the advertisement to bepresented.

The present disclosure includes methods and apparatuses which performthese methods, including data processing systems which perform thesemethods, and computer readable media which when executed on dataprocessing systems cause the systems to perform these methods.

Other features will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and fromthe detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure is illustrated by way of example and not limitation inthe figures of the accompanying drawings in which like referencesindicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows how clients and advertisers interact with each other usinga paid placement, or a paid inclusion advertising model, in accordancewith the prior art.

FIG. 2 shows an interaction between clients and advertisers, inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of operations performed in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a high level functional description of a system inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates the Account Creation and Management module of thesystem, in greater detail.

FIG. 6 illustrates the Advertisement Publication Module of the system,in greater detail.

FIG. 7 illustrates the Call Handling Module of the system, in greaterdetail.

FIG. 8A shows an example of a user interface that may be presented to auser during advertisement creation, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 8B shows a campaign management interface that is presented to auser, in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a search engine result page, which includesan advertisement generated, in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 10 shows an example of an email alert that is sent to anadvertiser, when a call is generated, in accordance with one embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 11 shows a high level hardware block diagram of a system that maybe used to implement the system, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention.

FIGS. 12-18 describe processes in accordance with embodiments of theinvention to track/credit demand partners.

FIG. 19 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 illustrates an example of a user interface to provide telephonicconnection for an auction listing according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 21 illustrates an example of a user interface to receive a callbackphone number to connect a customer to a seller according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 22 illustrates a system to provide an anonymous real timecommunication channel to connect a bidder to a seller according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a user interface to manageavailability for receiving phone calls according to one embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of a user interface to provide telephonicconnections for listings according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a user interface to submit bids ontelephonic leads according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example of a user interface to track callactivities according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 27-29 show flow diagrams of methods to connection people accordingto embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 30 illustrates a method to determine a bid instance based on amaximum bid.

FIGS. 31-33 illustrate processes to determine a price for acommunication lead according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 34 illustrates an example to select competitors based on categoriesduring the determination of a price for a communication lead accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 35-36 illustrate a method to select competitors based ongeographic areas during the determination of a price for a communicationlead according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 37 illustrates a query log which can be used to determine a pricefor a communication lead according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 38 illustrates a process to provide pay for performanceadvertisement according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the description. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that the techniques can be practiced without thesespecific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

FIG. 1 of the drawings illustrates how clients and advertisers interactwith each other in accordance with the paid placement, and paidinclusion advertising models of the prior art. Referring to FIG. 1, anumber of clients indicated by reference numeral 10 are coupled to awide area network (WAN) 14, such as the Internet via a communicationspath 12. Advertisers 16 are coupled to the WAN 14 via a communicationspath 18. The communications paths 12 and 18 may support the TCP/IPprotocols, in one embodiment. Each advertiser 16 has a web page 20 whichin accordance with the paid placement, and paid inclusion advertisingmodels described above, may be included in a results page of a key wordsearch initiated by a user of a client 10, which search is performed byan online search engine 19. Based on the paid placement, or the paidinclusion models, the web page 20 of an advertiser 16 is included withina results page compiled by the search engine 19 and sent via thecommunications path 12 to the client 10 that initiated the search, sothat the web page 20 may be selected or viewed by a user of the client10 that requested the search. As noted above, if an advertiser 16 doesnot have a web page 20, or does not have a web page 20 that is effectiveat capturing the value of a web visitor, then currently, such anadvertiser may not participate, or effectively participate, inperformance-based marketing such as paid placement, and paid inclusionprograms.

Further, the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to publishingor providing advertisements for the advertisers 16 through web pages.Thus, in alternative embodiments, the unique telephone number assignedto an advertiser may be published or provided using a directory withoutthe creation of a web page for the advertiser. The directory may be anexisting directory or a new directory. The placement or ranking of thetelephone number within the directory may be controlled through rankingtechniques described below.

Referring now to FIG. 2 of the drawings, a method for allowingadvertisers to participate in a pay per call advertising program,without requiring that the advertisers have a web presence, inaccordance with one embodiment, is illustrated. As will be seen, theclients 10 are coupled to the WAN 14 via the communications path 12, asbefore. However, the communications path between the advertisers 16 andthe WAN 14 is purely optional. In other words, the techniques of thepresent invention, allow an advertiser 16 to participate in aperformance-based advertising program without the requirement that theadvertiser 16 be coupled to the WAN 14 via the communications path 18.In fact, in accordance with the techniques disclosed herein, it is notnecessary that the advertisers 16 have web pages. Instead, in accordancewith the techniques disclosed herein, an alternative non-web basedcommunications path 22 is provided between the clients 10 and theadvertisers 16. According to embodiments of the present invention, thenon-web based communications path 22 may be provided by a conventionaltelephone network. Alternatively, the non-web based communications path22 may utilize Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to couplea client through switches of the network 14, and switches of a publictelephone network, in a manner that does not require the advertisers 16to have a connection to the network 14. In addition, the advertisercould be notified via other media channels, such as email, chat, instantmessage, VoIP clients, etc.

FIG. 3 of the drawings illustrates a technique to establish the non-webbased communications path 22 of FIG. 2, in accordance with oneembodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, at block 26, a unique telephone numberis assigned to an advertiser 16. Thereafter, at block 28, anadvertisement associated with the advertiser 16 is provisioned orpublished on a publication or media channel on behalf of the advertiser.The advertisement includes either the unique telephone number, or areference to the unique telephone number. At block 30, telephone callsto the unique telephone number are monitored, as will be described. Atblock 32, the advertiser is charged based on the phone call activitythrough the assigned telephone number, as will be described.

FIG. 4 of the drawings shows a functional description of a system toimplement the method of FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 4, the system includesaccount creation and management module 34, advertisement publicationmodule 36, call handling module 38, and billing module 40. Inalternative embodiments, additional, less, or different modules may beincluded in the system without departing from the invention.

The components of the account creation and management module 34, inaccordance with one embodiment, are shown in more detail in FIG. 5 ofthe drawings. Referring to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the accountcreation and management module 34 includes a user interface module 44,an advertisement creation module 46, and a payment specification module48. The user interface module 44 includes logic to present informationto a user, and to receive information from the user. For example, in oneembodiment, the user interface module 44 causes a web page such as theweb page 112 of FIG. 8 to be displayed on a browser of a client.

The advertisement creation module 46 includes text creation logic 50.The purpose of text creation logic 50 is to allow an advertiser 16, oran agent working on behalf of an advertiser 16, to input text for anadvertisement which is ultimately created by the advertisement creationmodule 46. In order to enhance understanding of the present invention,for the remainder of this description, a local business enterprisecalled “Burt's Plumbing” will be used as an example of an advertiserthat may benefit from the techniques disclosed herein. Burt's Plumbingmay or not have direct connectivity to the network 14. If Burt'sPlumbing does not have direct connectivity to the network 14, then arepresentative of Burt's Plumbing (hereinafter “Burt”) will have to gainaccess to a computer that does have connectivity to the network 14 inorder to view the web page 112 of FIG. 8A. For example, Burt could use acomputer of a friend, a computer at a local library, etc. In anotherembodiment, a search operator, an Internet yellow page provider or othertype of publisher could perform or administer this activity on behalf ofBurt. The text creation logic 50 allows Burt to input for e.g. the text“Burt's Plumbing in San Francisco. Check out our special deals,” whichwill be included in the advertisement when it is rendered. The module 46also includes key word association logic 57 that allows Burt to inputcertain key words which are then associated with Burt's advertisement.The idea here is that when one of the clients 10 initiates a searchthrough the search engine 19 using a key word that matches one of thekey words entered by Burt, then Burt's advertisement will be displayedwithin a result of the search. Since Burt's Plumbing is not a nationaloperation or enterprise it is necessary to display Burt's advertisementto clients within a certain geographic area. Thus, the module 46includes location determination logic 54 that builds a geographiclocation association to Burt's advertisement. In one embodiment, thelocation determination logic 54 allows Burt to select a particulargeographic location of interest, say for example San Francisco, so thatBurt's advertisement will be displayed to clients searching within theSan Francisco area.

In one embodiment, the module 46 also includes telephone number autogeneration logic 56 that automatically generates a unique telephonenumber, maps the unique telephone number to Burt's actual telephonenumber such that when the unique number is called, Bert's phone rings,and associates the unique phone number with Burt's advertisement. In oneembodiment, the telephone number is generated or selected from a pool ofnumbers at the time the advertisement is created; alternatively, thetelephone number is generated or selected at the time the advertisementis being requested for display. In one embodiment, the telephone numberthat is automatically generated, may be a toll free number. In oneembodiment, the telephone number may be a local number with the samearea code as Burt's actual telephone number. In one embodiment, thetelephone number may be an easily recognizable 800 number, modified by aunique extension mapped to Burt's business telephone number. Forexample, in one embodiment, a number could be the number“1-800-YEL-PAGES-1234.” The 1234 portion of the 800 number is the uniqueextension that is mapped to Burt's telephone number so that when asearcher calls the number 1 800 YEL PAGES-1234, the call will beautomatically routed to Burt's telephone as will be described in moredetail below.

In one embodiment, the telephone number (e.g., a traditional telephonenumber with or without an extension, or a VoIP-based telephonereference, such as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address) isautomatically generated or selected at the time the advertisement isbeing requested for display. Alternatively, the telephone numberassigned to the advertiser is generated or selected at the time thesystem accepts the submission of the advertisement from the advertiser.Alternatively, the telephone number assigned to the advertiser isgenerated or selected at the time the advertisement is being activatedfor publication via the system.

In one embodiment, the advertisement creation module 46, automaticallyinserts the unique telephone number assigned to Burt directly intoBurt's advertisement. Alternatively, click to call logic 58 may beinvoked in order to generate a button, or a clickable telephone number,which is automatically inserted into Burt's advertisement, so that whenthe button or telephone number is selected or clicked by a useroperating a client 10, a telephone call is automatically initiated toBurt's telephone number.

The module 46 also includes on/off logic 60 that allows Burt toselectively turn on or turn off an advertisement. Alternatively, theturn on/off logic 60 allows Burt to assign an active or an inactivestatus to a particular advertisement. When an advertisement is turnedoff or flagged as inactive, it is considered withdrawn, at leasttemporarily, from an advertisement campaign, and is therefore notpublished e.g. through the search engine 19. Alternatively, onlyadvertisements that are turned on, or have a status of “active” arepublished in accordance with the techniques disclosed herein.

The module 46 includes smart connect logic 62 that allows automaticrouting of calls to various telephone numbers. For example, Burt mayinclude a primary telephone number, and one or more secondary telephonenumbers to be associated with his advertisement. Thus, in oneembodiment, the smart connect logic 62 first routes the call to Burt'sprimary telephone number, and if no connection is achieved, then triescyclically through Burt's list of secondary telephone numbers, until aconnection is achieved.

The module 46 also includes arrange a call logic 64 that allows asearcher to input a time at which the searcher wishes to speak to Burt.The system then contacts Burt in order to arrange the call with thesearcher. Burt may be contacted in a variety of ways, for example bysending a facsimile to Burt, by sending an email to Burt, by telephoningBurt, etc. to alert him of the arranged telephone call. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in theadvertisement creation module without departing from the invention.

The payment specification module 48, allows Burt to select a particularmodel and various parameters associated with billing. The module 48includes flat fee logic 66 that presents an option to Burt through theuser interface module 44, which if selected will cause Burt to be billedon a flat fee basis for each telephone call received within a particularcategory, or subcategory, or keyword. The module 48 also includes bidfor placement logic 68, that, through the user interface module 44,presents an option to Burt to choose to be billed on a bid-for-placementbasis, as described above. The logic 68 supports proxy bids, andmaximum/minimum bids.

The module 48 also includes spending level logic 70 that allows Burt tospecify daily/weekly/monthly spending levels. The specified spendinglevel essentially defines a budget per time period such that if thebudget is exceeded within a particular time period, then Burt'sadvertisement will be automatically flagged as inactive or turned off,for the remainder of the time period. Burt is notified of this activityby the system and Burt is given the option of reactivating hisadvertisement by adding additional funds to his account. Alternatively,Burt may provide payment information (e.g., a credit card number or bankaccount) to the system such that the system can automatically transferadditional funds, when needed, to his account according to the paymentinformation.

In one embodiment, the billing module 40 includes logic to automaticallywaive charges for leads (calls) from searchers/customers who have calledBurt recently. For example, if a customer calls on one day, and thendials the same number for a follow-up call a day later, the systemautomatically waives the charge for the second call since this lead hasalready been paid for. Thus, the advertiser (Burt) does not have to beconcerned about a customer using the advertised telephone number morethan once and causing multiple charges. In one embodiment, the system ofthe present invention may be configured to waive the charges on leadsfrom customers who have already called a particular advertiser within aspecified number of days. In alternative embodiments, additional, less,or different logic may be included in the system.

Referring now to FIG. 6 of the drawings, the components of theadvertisement publication module 36, are shown in greater detail. Aswill be seen, the module 36 includes an advertisement engine 74, and anadvertisement syndication engine 76. The purpose of the advertisementengine 74 is to automatically provide Burt's advertisement on aparticular channel. In some embodiments, the advertisement engine 74causes a campaign management interface 113 (see FIG. 8B of the drawings)to be displayed to an advertiser. The interface 113 allows theadvertiser to optionally choose a channel, e.g., Ingenio, and a categoryin which the advertisement is to be provisioned/published. The interface113 allows the advertiser to specify the maximum bid amount that theadvertiser is willing to pay to provision the advertisement using theselected channel and category. FIG. 9 of the drawings shows an exampleof a web page 112 within which includes an advertisementrendered/provisioned in accordance with the techniques described herein.In one embodiment, this publication channel may be a web-basedpublication channel which is operated by an operator of the system ofthe present invention.

Alternatively, the syndication engine 76 may be used to syndicate Burt'sadvertisement to a number of third parties that host publicationchannels selected by Burt. Thus, in one embodiment, the syndicationengine 76 may cause Burt's advertisement to be syndicated to third partysearch engines, Internet yellow pages, online directories, and othermedia.

As will be seen in FIG. 6 of the drawings, the advertisement engine 74includes price per call logic 78, activity history logic 80, call statuslogic 82, connection success logic 84, manual indexing logic 86, andrandom logic 88. Each of the logic components 78-88 controls a parameterthat forms a basis of how Burt's advertisement is ultimately provided.The price per call logic 78 causes Burt's advertisement to be publishedon a price per call basis. Thus, for example, if Burt is willing only topay a low amount for each call, then his advertisement will be placed orranked low down within a search result page or category of advertisers.Alternatively, if Burt is willing to pay a high price per call, then hisadvertisement will be placed higher up in the search result page orcategory of advertisers. The table below shows how the price per calllogic 78 would rank or place advertisers within a channel based on a bidamount per call that an advertiser is willing to pay:

Placement Advertiser (Bid Amount per call) 1 800-349-2398 ($3.88) 2866-324-3242 ($3.22) 3 800-323-5321 ($2.01)

The activity history logic 80 analyzes the number of calls Burt receivedin a give time period, for example, the last day/week/month, and willrank Burt's advertisement within a display page based on the activityhistory. The call status logic 82, examines the status (active orinactive) of Burt's advertisement, and selectively publishes Burt'sadvertisement based on the status. The connection success logic 84measures a connection success rate for calls to the telephone numberassigned to Burt's advertisement and ranks Burt's advertisement within adisplay page based on the connection success rate. For example, ifBurt's telephone number enjoys a low connection success rate then thelogic 84 will cause Burt's advertisement to be ranked lowly within apublication page. The manual indexing logic 86 allows an operator tomanually index or rank Burt's advertisement within a publication page.The random logic 88 allows Burt's advertisement to be randomly ranked orplaced within a result page. In one embodiment, the ranking of Burt'sadvertisement within a display page may be based on any combination ofthe parameters controlled by the logic components 78-88, which may bedictated by a third party who employs the system. In alternativeembodiments, additional, less, or different logic may be included in theadvertisement engine 74 without departing from the invention.

In one embodiment, an advertisement engine 74 further includes one ormore modules for searching advertisements according to a query request,sorting advertisements, allocating real time communication references(e.g., traditional telephone numbers, SIP address, user ID of instantmessaging system, etc.).

Referring now to FIG. 7 of the drawings, the components within the callhandling module 38 include a call routing engine 92, and a callmonitoring engine 94. As will be seen, the call routing engine 92includes redirect logic 96 to cause redirection of a telephone call tothe number assigned to Burt's advertisement. The redirection is to atelephone number specified by Burt during creation of the advertisementusing the advertisement creation module 46. The call routing engine 92also includes VoIP logic 98 to route a telephone call to or from aclient to a telephone number specified by Burt in the advertisementusing VoIP technology.

The call routing engine 92 may also include prompt logic 99 that causesa prompt to be played to a caller before routing of a telephone call toBurt's telephone number. In one embodiment, the prompt logic 99 plays aninformation prompt to the caller to inform the caller of Burt's actualtelephone number. Thus, the caller may, in future, call Burt directlyusing Burt's actual telephone number instead of the telephone numberassigned to Burt by the system. In such cases, Burt will not be billedby the system for telephone calls to his actual telephone number. In oneembodiment, the prompt logic 99 may also cause an information prompt tobe played to Burt to inform Burt of the source of the telephone call. Insome cases, the prompt logic 99 may cause an email or facsimile alert tobe automatically generated and sent to an advertiser, in order to informthe advertiser of the telephone number of the caller. An example of suchan email is shown in FIG. 10 of the drawings and is marked as referencenumeral 116. In alternative embodiments, additional, less, or differentlogic may be included in the call routing engine 92 without departingfrom the invention.

The call monitoring engine 94 includes call number logic 100 to trackthe number of calls generated in response to Burt's advertisement. Thecall monitoring engine 94 also includes Automatic Number Identification(ANI) logic 102 to identify the number of unique numbers of callers thatcall Burt, automatically. The call monitoring engine also includes calllength logic 104 that monitors the length of each call to Burt.Connection status logic 108 monitors whether a call is successful,whether an engaged or busy tone is encountered, or whether Burt simplydid not answer his telephone. Based on information supplied by logiccomponents 100 106, a report is compiled and may be viewed by Burt. Inone embodiment, the report includes a number of calls, the number ofcalls from unique telephone numbers, the telephone numbers of thecallers, the length of each call, and the number of calls that weresuccessful, for which an engaged tone was returned, or that wentunanswered. The report may be used by Burt in order to monitor theeffectiveness of an advertisement campaign, and to optimize thecampaign. In alternative embodiments, additional, less, or differentlogic may be included in the call monitoring engine 94 without departingfrom the invention.

In one embodiment, the advertising publication module may publish theadvertisement on a telephone-based advertising service. For example, theadvertisement can be delivered to a consumer through audio as part of avoice portal or telephone-based directory such as a 411 telephonedirectory.

Referring to FIG. 11 of the drawings, reference numeral 150 generallyindicates hardware that may be used to implement the above-describedsystem. The hardware 150 typically includes at least one processor 152coupled to the memory 154. The processor 152 may represent one or moreprocessors (e.g., microprocessors), and the memory 154 may representrandom access memory (RAM) devices comprising a main storage of thehardware 150, as well as any supplemental levels of memory e.g., cachememories, non-volatile or back-up memories (e.g. programmable or flashmemories), read-only memories, etc. In addition, the memory 154 may beconsidered to include memory storage physically located elsewhere in thehardware 150, e.g. any cache memory in the processor 152, as well as anystorage capacity used as a virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a massstorage device 160.

The hardware 150 also typically receives a number of inputs and outputsfor communicating information externally. For interface with a user oroperator, the hardware 150 may include one or more user input devices156 (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, etc.) and a display 158 (e.g., a CathodeRay Tube (CRT) monitor, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel).

For additional storage, the hardware 150 may also include one or moremass storage devices 160, e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive,a hard disk drive, a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), an opticaldrive (e.g. a Compact Disk (CD) drive, a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)drive, etc.) and/or a tape drive, among others. Furthermore, thehardware 150 may include an interface with one or more networks 162(e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wirelessnetwork, and/or the Internet among others) to permit the communicationof information with other computers coupled to the networks. It shouldbe appreciated that the hardware 150 typically includes suitable analogand/or digital interfaces between the processor 152 and each of thecomponents 154, 156, 158 and 162 as is well known in the art.

The hardware 150 operates under the control of an operating system 164,and executes various computer software applications 166, components,programs, objects, modules, etc. (e.g. a program or module whichperforms operations described above. Moreover, various applications,components, programs, objects, etc. may also execute on one or moreprocessors in another computer coupled to the hardware 150 via a network152, e.g. in a distributed computing environment, whereby the processingrequired to implement the functions of a computer program may beallocated to multiple computers over a network.

As discussed above, the syndicate engine 76 is used to syndicate Burt'sadvertisement to a number of third parties. These demand partners (alsoreferred to herein as syndication partners) can receive a percentage ofthe advertising revenue generated via the pay-per-call method and systemdescribed, herein. Thus, as in the example of the table above, theadvertiser of placement 1 pays $3.88 per call received to phone number800-349-2398. Now suppose the call to the advertiser of placement 1,resulted from an advertisement presented on a demand partner's website.The demand partner would be entitled to a percentage of that $3.88. Thepresent method and system offers multiple embodiments for tracking,monitoring, and determining demand partner compensation.

In one embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 12, in process1202 an advertiser (also referred to herein as a merchant or listing) isgiven a separate telephone number for each separate demand partner thatis posting the merchant's advertisement. As described herein, inmultiple embodiments, telephonic references, including telephone numbersand telephone extensions corresponding to a base telephone number, areassigned using the telephone number auto generation logic 56.

In one embodiment, the alias phone number is mapped to the advertiser'sactual phone number, and calls made to the alias are monitored in orderto track the respective demand partners. Therefore, in process 1204billing module 40 tracks and/or credits demand partners a percentage ofthe revenue charged to the advertiser (or collected from the advertiser)for calls placed to the advertiser's alias telephone numbercorresponding to the respective demand partner.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 13, inprocess 1302 an advertiser receives a singlel/base (the same) telephonenumber for a set of the demand partners. In process 1304, a separateextension is assigned to the advertiser for each of the separate demandpartners. More specifically, the separate demand partners list the sametelephone number for the advertiser, but also include an extensionunique to the respective demand partner. For example, a listing couldhave the number “(800) new—cars” for the set of demand partners, buteach demand partner posting the common telephone number for theadvertiser would also provide a separate extension corresponding to therespective demand partner (e.g., ext. 102 corresponding to the XYZsyndication partner, ext. 104 corresponding to the ABC syndicationpartner, etc.) In process 1306, billing module 40 tracks and/or creditsa demand partner a percentage of the revenue charged to the advertiser(or collected from the advertiser), for calls placed to the advertiservia the telephone extension corresponding to the respective demandpartner.

In an alternative embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 14,in process 1402 a demand partner uses a base telephone (i.e., a single)number for a set of advertisers. In process 1404, the demand partnerprovides a separate extension to each of the advertisers using the samebase number. For example, the demand partner could use the telephonenumber (800) Call XYZ for a set of advertisers, and provide theextension 102 for Joe's plumbing, and extension 104 for Carl's plumbing,etc. In process 1406, billing module 40 tracks and/or credits a demandpartner a percentage of the revenue charged to the advertiser (orcollected from the advertiser), for calls placed to the advertiser viathe base telephone number corresponding to the respective demand partnerand the unique telephone extension assigned to the advertiser at therespective demand partner.

According to another embodiment, a click-to-reveal method is proposed,as described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/552,124,entitled “A Method and Apparatus to Provide Pay-Per-Call PerformanceBased Advertising and Billing” filed on Mar. 10, 2004, hereinincorporated by reference. As described in the flow diagram of FIG. 15,in process 1502 a user is presented with an advertisement via a demandpartner's website. The advertisement does not show the advertiser'scomplete phone number, but instead contains a hyperlink to reveal theadvertiser's phone number, or the remaining portion of the telephonenumber. In process 1504, the advertisement engine 74 monitors the numberof click-throughs to reveal the advertiser's number. In one embodiment,it is assumed that each click-through from a demand partner results in acall to the respective advertiser. As a result, in process 1506 billingmodule 40 tracks and/or calculates an amount to credit a demand partnerbased at least in part on a number of click-throughs to reveal anadvertiser's telephone number.

In yet another alternative embodiment, a demand partner is provided witha click to call format. In one embodiment, as described in the flowdiagram of FIG. 16, in process 1602 in addition to listing a telephonenumber for an advertiser (or in place of listing a telephone number forthe advertiser) a link (e.g., a hyperlink, or an icon, or a button) isprovided by the demand partner to initiate establishing a telephoneconnection between the viewer/customer and the advertiser in response tothe viewer/customer activating/selecting the hyperlink provided. In oneembodiment, in process 1604, in response to activating/selecting thehyperlink provided, the viewer/customer is prompted for their telephonenumber to establish the telephone connection with the advertiser. Afterthe customer enters their telephone number, a telephone connection isestablished between the customer and the advertiser.

In yet another embodiment, if the viewer/customer has a VoIPcommunications device, VoIP logic 98 may connect the advertiser to theviewer/customer without the need for the customer/viewer to providetheir telephone number. The VoIP communications device includestelephony devices attached to the user's computer, as well as mobilecommunication devices, such as PDA's and cellular phones.

In the embodiment employing a click to call (for PSTN and VoIPconnections), in process 1604, a demand partner providing the click tocall option would be tracked/credited (i.e., a percentage of the chargeto the advertiser) each time a viewer/customer selects/activates a clickto call icon for the respective advertiser.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 17, inprocess 1702 an advertiser is given one telephone number for a set ofdemand partners. In process 1704, credits to the demand partners forcalls placed to the advertiser's listed telephone number are proratedbased on a number of page views for the advertiser's telephone numberlisting via the respective demand partners. For example, if 70% of theadvertiser's page views are accessed via demand partner ABC, and 30% ofthe advertiser's page views are accessed via demand partner XYZ, the ABCdemand partner would receive 70% and the demand partner XYZ wouldreceive 30% of the credits payable to the demand partners for callsplaced to the advertiser's listed telephone number.

In another embodiment, described in the flow diagram of FIG. 18, inprocess 1802 at least a first set of advertisers are given uniquetelephonic reference for each demand partner. One or more advertisersare each given one telephonic reference for a set demand partners.

In process 1804, a statistical sampling of calls to advertisers with theunique telephonic reference is generated. In one embodiment, thestatistical sampling represents a sampling of a percentage of calls toan advertiser (or set of advertisers) that originate from anadvertisement listed by a first demand partner compared to calls thatoriginate from the same (or similar) advertisement listed by otherdemand partners. In one embodiment, the samplings may be separated basedon a category of advertisers (e.g., restaurants, automobiles, etc.).

In process 1806, the samplings are used as a basis fortracking/crediting the demand partners with a percentage of the chargesto at least a set of the advertisers. Consider the example advertisers 1and 2 are each give a unique telephone, and 70% of the calls toadvertisers 1 and 2 are from telephonic references listed by partnerABC. Given the example, an assumption is made that 70% of the calls tothe advertisers using a common number among the demand partners, areoriginated from advertisements listed by partner ABC.

Therefore, in one embodiment, based on the statistical sampling, partnerABC would be credited for 70% of the calls placed to the advertisersusing a common number among the demand partners. In one embodiment,tracking/crediting the demand partners based on the statistical samplingcould also be applied to the advertisers using unique numbers among thedemand partners.

As described above, telephone-call tracking is used to determine thenumber of phone calls a particular party, or directory, has received. Itcan be useful for a variety of purposes. It is particularly useful inmeasuring the success of advertising. For instance, a telephonedirectory may offer advertising placements to its advertisers, such asplumbers. By tracking the number of phone calls a particularadvertisement has received, the directory can demonstrate the value ofits advertising to the advertiser.

Telephone-call tracking can be used to measure the effectiveness of avariety of advertising vehicles in addition to the physical yellow-pagesphone book. Newspaper classifieds can utilize call tracking, as cantelevision commercials that display phone numbers for consumers to call.By counting the number of telephone calls such advertisements receive,the campaign's effectiveness can be measured. This is of benefit both tothe advertiser and to the directory/publisher.

Telephone-call tracking can be also used as such in directories that areonline, such as an online yellow pages. Similarly, it can be used totrack the success of online search advertising, such as keywordadvertising.

Telephone-call tracking is particularly useful in pay-for-performanceadvertising systems, as described in several embodiments above. Inpay-for-performance systems, advertisers pay when an advertisementperforms. For instance, an advertiser can pay $1 each time a potentialcustomer clicks on an online-search advertisement. Similarly, inpay-per-call advertising systems, such as that described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/872,117, filed Jun. 17, 2004, an advertiser'spayments are linked to the number of calls that advertiser receives. Insuch a pay per call advertising system, call tracking is vital, sincecounting the number of calls received determines the amount that theadvertiser must pay. In one embodiment, not only are the number of callsreceived counted but also the time of the call, since in one embodimentan advertiser may bid to pay a higher price per call in order to receivea more prominent placement for their advertisement.

In one embodiment, not only is it designed to track the number of callsand precise time of calls, but the demand source at which the callerviewed the advertisement may also be tracked. Online directories canhave many different external web sites through which they syndicate thesame advertisers, and it can be useful to know from which web site thephone call originated so that, in some cases, the directory cancompensate the external web site for having brought customers.Provisional U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60/560,926, filed on Apr.9, 2004, outlines this case.

Tracking phone calls may include publishing a unique phone number thatis different from the advertiser's standard phone number. When a callerviews the advertisement, the unique phone number appears, and the callerdials it. The call coming in on the unique phone number is thenrerouted, using the call tracker's telephony equipment, to theadvertiser's standard phone number. In addition to rerouting the call,the call tracker also records that a call was made and the precisetime/duration of the call. In a pay-per-call advertising system, thisinformation can be used to bill the advertiser for the call.

In cases where directories would also like to identify the demand sourceof the call, a single advertiser will have to be given multiple uniquephone numbers, one for each demand source where that advertiser appears.For instance, the advertisement of a single plumber might be displayedin two different online directories and three different online searchengines. In order to track which of these demand sources produced a callfrom a customer, the single plumber would have to be assigned fivedifferent unique telephone numbers. By monitoring which unique phonenumber was dialed, it can be determined which demand source deserves thecredit for producing the call.

In one embodiment, the unique telephone numbers assigned to anadvertiser and or a demand partner is for a short period of time afterthe listing of the advertiser containing the unique telephone numbers ispresented. After the time period, the telephone numbers can bere-assigned to other advertisers.

FIG. 19 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 19, a database (1921) may contain the phone numbers of targetphone A (1931), target phone B (1933), . . . , target phone X (1939),etc. Typically, the target phones belong to the institutions,businesses, individuals, etc, which seek for publicity through variousmedia channels, such as media channel A (1901) (e.g., web server), mediachannel B (1902) (e.g., WAP server), media channel C (1903) (e.g., shortmessaging service center), media channel D (1904) (e.g., custom server),media channel E (1907) (e.g., cable television), media channel E (1908)(e.g., news press), media channel G (1909) (e.g., radio station), etc.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the phone numbers of thetarget phones are not directly publicized over the media channels.Instead, encoded target phone numbers (1923) are used. Using the encodedtarget phone numbers (1923), a user cannot reach target phones directly.The encoded target phone numbers (1923) allow the association ofadditional information with the target phone numbers, such as the mediachannels used, special promotions, etc.

The encoded target phone numbers are delivered with content information(e.g., web page, WAP page, short message, television programs, newsarticles, etc.) to user devices, such as user device A (1911) (e.g.,cellular phone), user device B (1912) (e.g., personal digital assistant(PDA)), user device C (1913) (e.g., computer), user device D (1916)(e.g., receiver), user device E (1918) (e.g., newspaper).

In one embodiment, a user device can include a USB phone, a Bluetoothwireless phone, or one or more speakers or headphones with one ormicrophones for the implementation of a software based phone.

In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony.

In one embodiment, the user device can include a television set toreceive the advertisement. Further, the television set may have thecapability to accept user input so that the television content may bechanged according to the user input (e.g., interactive television, webtelevision, internet television, etc.), or be coupled with a set top boxwhich has such capability. The user input may be provided to the contentprovider through the same communication channel in which the televisioncontent/programs are delivered (e.g., a cable system of a cabletelevision system), or a separate channel (e.g., a phone line, anInternet connection, etc.). The user input may include a request to makea connection to an advertiser featured in an advertisement presented ina television program, such as a request for a telephonic connection tothe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the user devices are mobile devices, such as PDA,cellular phone, etc. The user devices obtain content information,including advertisements, through wireless communication connections,such as cellular communication links, wireless access points forwireless local area network, etc.

In one embodiment, a user device (e.g., a cellular phone, a computer, aPDA) can receive content information from multiple types of mediachannels (e.g., a web server, a WAP server, an SMSC, CHTML, etc.).

In one embodiment, a user device is capable to dial a phone call (e.g.,automatically according to the encoded phone number embedded in thecontent information when a user selects the number). Alternatively, auser may manually dial a phone call using a separate phone, such as userphone S (1917) or user phone T (1919).

In one embodiment of the present invention, dialing at least a portionof an encoded target phone number connects the phone call to a phonedecoder and router (1925) first. According to the encoded target phonenumber dialed, the phone decoder and router (1925) determines thecorresponding target phone number using the database (1921) and connectsthe phone call to the corresponding target phone (e.g., one of targetphones 1931-1939) through the telephone network (1927).

Note the telephone network (1927) may be circuit switched, packetswitched, or partially circuit switched and partially packet switched.For example, the telephone network may partially use the Internet tocarry the phone call (e.g., through VoIP). For example, the connectionbetween the user phone/device and the phone decoder and router (1925)may be carried using VoIP; and the connection between the phone decoderand router (1925) may be carried using a land-line based, circuitswitched telephone network.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the information associatedwith the encoded target phone number, such as the media channel used toprovide the encoded target phone number to the users, is alsodecoded/retrieved using the database (1921). Thus, the informationassociated with the encoded target phone number can be tracked/stored.

In one embodiment, the phone decoder and router (1925) also determinesthe phone number of the user through Automatic Number Identification(ANI). ANI is a phone system feature that provides the billing phonenumber of the person making the phone call.

The information about the caller, target phone number, the media channelused for delivering the contact information to the user can be used tobill the caller and/or the target phone number, and providecredit/compensation for the corresponding media channel.

For example, the advertisements for target phone numbers can be paid foron a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking the calls can be usedfor billing the advertisers. Alternatively, the users may be seeking thecontact information on a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking thecalls can be used for billing the users.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the additional informationassociated with the encoded target phone number is used to providecredit/compensation to the operators of the corresponding media channelsthat are responsible for leading the users to the phone calls to thetarget phones. The system can further track the time and duration of thephone calls and other information, such as conditional promotions,electronic coupons, etc.

The information about the media channels that are responsible forleading the users to the phone calls to the target phones can also beuseful for the advertisers. The advertisers may wish to know which mediachannel is more effective in reaching users. For example, using thestatistic information about the media channels which successfully bringin phone calls, the advertisers may fine tune advertisement strategies.Further, different media channels may charge differently for theadvertisements; and the advertisers may bid differently on differentmedia channels for their advertisements.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an encoded target phonenumber has the same number of digits as a standard phone number (e.g., atypical telephone number assigned by a telephone company). Thus, dialingthe encoded target phone number is as easy as dialing the target phonenumber; and dialing the target phone number reaches the phone decoderand router (1925). In such an arrangement, a large number of encodedphone numbers are generally required to differentiate the differenttarget phones and different media channels.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an encoded target phonenumber has more digits than a standard phone number. A first portion ofthe encoded target phone number has the same number of digits as astandard phone number to reach the phone decoder and router (1925)through the telephone network (1927); and a second portion of theencoded target phone number is to be decoded by the phone decoder androuter (1925). For example, the Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) decodercan be installed in the phone decoder and router (1925) to detect thesecond portion of the encoded target phone number dialed at the userphone. The detected phone number can then be used to recover the targetphone number. In one embodiment, a human operator or an interactivevoice response (IVR) system can be used to receive the second portion ofthe encoded target phone number for decoding.

When an encoded target phone number has more digits than a standardphone number, the additional digits can be implemented as a telephoneextension, or as input to an IVR system. In one embodiment, an encodedtarget phone number includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addressfor the initiation of a VoIP call to the system.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a single telephone number isused to reach the phone decoder and router (1925) for different targetphone numbers; and the portion of the encoded target phone number thatis used to reach the phone decoder and router (1925) is not used indetermining the information associated with the encoded target phonenumber.

Alternatively, multiple telephone numbers can be used to reach the phonedecoder and router (1925); and the entire encoded target phone numbercan be used to determine the information associated with the encodedtarget phone number.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the encoded target phonenumbers can have different numbers of digits. The advertisers may bearranged to bid for shorter encoded target phone numbers.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the encoded target phonenumbers are assigned only when needed for use in a media channel. Forexample, when a query is received at the server of the system, thesystem assigns phone numbers for the advertisements that satisfy thequery.

In one embodiment, a look-up table approach is used to encode theinformation. For example, the database (1921) keeps track of theinformation about the media channel and the target phone number (andother information, if any) for the encoded target phone number so thatthe encoded target phone number can be used as a key to retrieve thecorresponding information. Thus, it is not necessary to have apredetermined structure to encode the information about the mediachannels and the target phone number.

Alternatively, algorithms can be used to generate and encode targetphone number and associated information. For example, a predeterminedalgorithm may be used to encode different information in the targetphone number. For example, the target phone number may include a numberof fields separated by “*” or “#”. Each of the fields can be decodedseparately (e.g., from a separate look up table or a mapping algorithm)to determine the target phone number, identity of the media channel,etc.

For example, a set of parameters can be mapped from a string ofcharacters to a string of numerical digits as a part of the encodedtarget phone number; and the string of numbers can be mapped back intothe string of characters at the phone decoder and router (1925). Whensuch a mapping scheme is used, a look up table is not necessary. Forexample, an encoded target phone number may include a first portion thatis the phone number of the phone decoder and router (1925), a secondportion that is the target phone number appended with a number mappedfrom an identifier of the media channel. To prevent the user fromdialing the target phone number directly, an encryption/scramblingscheme can be used to encode the second portion, which is decoded at thephone decoder and router (1925).

In one embodiment of the present invention, the phone decoder and router(1925) determines the target phone number from the encoded target phonenumber dialed by the user and then dials the target phone number for theuser and joins/bridges the phone calls so that the user can talk to thetarget phone.

In one embodiment of the present invention, users dial the encodedtarget phone numbers manually. A user can dial the encoded target phonenumber regardless of the user device used and the media channel used.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, user devices can automatically dialthe encoded target phone numbers. For example, a cellular phone, acomputer or a PDA can dial a phone number using a Dual ToneMulti-Frequency (DTMF) generator. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, the encoded target phone numbers are presented in the contentinformation in a format such that when the user selects the phone numberthe user device (e.g., a cellular phone or a computer) dials the encodedtarget phone number for the user. The user selection may be in the formof an keyboard/keypad input, a touch pad input, a track ball input, amouse input, a voice command, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device initiates the phone call through aVoIP system when the user selects the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the user device dials thephone number for the user without the user manually pressing thesequence of the encoded target phone numbers. This greatly simplifiesthe process of make the phone call. Since a user device can dial a longsequence of number easily, a large number of digits can be used toencode the information without presenting any difficulties for theusers.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the encoded target phonenumbers are formatted so that the user device dials a first portion ofthe encoded target phone numbers to access the phone decoder and router(1925), pauses for a short period of time for the phone decoder androuter (1925) to prepare for receiving the second portion of the encodedtarget phone numbers, and then dials the second portion of the encodedtarget phone numbers. Thus, the user device provides a user-friendly wayof dialing the encoded target phone numbers; and, making the phone callcan be as easy as making a “click” to access a web page.

In FIG. 19, the user device initiates the phone call. Alternatively, aphone router may be used to initiate phone calls both to the user device(or a separate user phone) and the target phone and then join/bridge thephone calls to connect the user to the target phone. For example, whenthe user selects the encoded target phone number, the selection of thetarget phone number is transmitted to the phone router with the userphone number.

The user phone number can be automatically determined through ANI, orthrough a user preference setting, or through an entry submitted withthe selection of the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the selection of the encoded target phone number istransmitted to the corresponding media channel, which forwards therequest for making the phone call to a server (e.g., a web server)connected to the phone router. Alternatively, the content informationcan be formatted so that the selection is sent directly to the serverthat is connected to the phone router.

When the router starts the phone calls, the encoded target phone numbercan also include alphabetic characters (and/or other characters). Theserver and/or the phone router can decode the encoded target phonenumber to recover/retrieve the target phone number and other associatedinformation, such as the identity of the media channel that iscreditable for providing the encoded target phone number to user.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement ispresented to end users around the globe without geographical arealimitations. For example, an advertiser may provide services and/orproducts to customers around the globe. The advertisement may bedelivered to the worldwide users of the Internet.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the intended audience of anadvertisement is the population in a particular geographical area orpeople interested in a particular geographical area. For example, anadvertiser may limit its service area within a geographical area, wherethe advertiser can provide services and/or products to the customersmore effectively. For example, a business may better serve the customerswithin a convenient walking/driving distance to the site of thebusiness. A business may limit the service area within a city, a county,a state, a country, or other types of regional areas. Further, a largebusiness entity having offices around the world may want to attractcustomers in different geographical regions to different offices forbetter services.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a target geographic area isspecified for publicizing a phone number which can be used to reach anadvertiser. The target geographic area information can be used toeffectively reach potential customers and connect the customers to thecorresponding phones of the advertisers.

For example, in one embodiment, the advertiser can specify a geographicservice area corresponding to a phone number. The service area may bespecified in terms of radius, city, region, state or national boundary,etc. The service area can be used to limit the delivery of theadvertisement to customers seeking information in the correspondinggeographic area. The service area can be used to stream information intoa mobile device when the mobile device enters the service area, with orwithout explicit request from the user of the mobile device. The servicearea information can also be used to route the phone to thecorresponding one of the offices of the advertiser, based on thelocation of the caller, if the advertiser has more than one office.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement presentedin a media channel is for a single advertiser. The end user selects anadvertiser according to the advertisements presented on behalf ofindividual advertisers; and the phone decoder and router connects theend user and the selected advertiser according to the encoded targetphone number individually publicized in the advertisement for theadvertiser. When the user views the online advertisements, the selectionof the advertiser is based on the online information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement ispresented in a media channel for a group of advertisers, such as a groupof mortgage brokers. The advertisement contains an encoded target phonenumber which is reachable to the group of mortgage brokers. When theencode target phone number is selected or used, the selection of aparticular advertiser is performed at the phone decoder and router.

For example, a toll-free number is published to advertise mortgagebrokers in a particular geographic area. When a consumer dials thetoll-free number, the call is routed to the highest bidding mortgagebroker who is available in that market.

The phone decoder and router may select the target advertiser accordingto the bidding of the advertisers for the advertisement. The advertiserwho places the highest bid is the winner for the call. Alternatively, orin combination, other types of selection criteria can also be used. Forexample, the user may be interested in advertisers in a particulargeographical region; and the geographical area of interest to the callercan be determined and used in selecting the target advertiser. Further,the user may be interested in a connection without excessive waitingtime. The status of the availability of the advertisers to answer thecall can be used in ranking the candidates for routing the call.

In general, an indicator used to rank the candidates may be a functionof a number of parameters, such as the bid for the advertisement, theprojected waiting time, an indicator showing a degree of matching to oneor more user requirements (e.g., geographic area, service type, etc.),advertisement budget, and others.

In a marketplace environment (e.g., an online marketplace where itemsare sold through auction or fixed price purchase), sellers may hesitateto provide home phone numbers. If their phone numbers are publishedwidely, they may fall into the hands of telemarketers or unrelatedcallers. Even regarding calls from viable customers, a seller mayreceive calls at inopportune times, such as the middle of the night,especially from customers browsing the marketplace from different timezones. Sellers do not want the phone to ring from the auctionmarketplace regardless of the hours of day and night.

However, real time communication can help the auction process,especially telephonic conversations.

One embodiment of the present invention uses the connection techniquesthat provide anonymity and availability control to allow a real timecommunication channel between the bidders and sellers in an auctionenvironment. Wider adoption of telephonic connections in an auctionenvironment can increase bids and revenue.

In one embodiment, a telephonic connection service is used to providelive calling, voicemail, call scheduling, anonymity, availabilitycontrol, etc., which are seamlessly integrated into an auctionenvironment

In one embodiment, an auction listing includes information to initiate atelephonic connection between a bidder and the seller. FIG. 20illustrates an example of a user interface to provide telephonicconnection for an auction listing according to one embodiment of thepresent invention.

For example, the information to initiate a phone connection can be inthe form of a toll free number (2003) or a call button (2005) in anauction listing (2001). In one embodiment of the present invention, theauction listing does not include a direct telephonic contact informationof the seller to provide anonymity for the seller.

In one embodiment, the system initiates a separate telephonic connectionto the seller and then join the telephonic connection between the systemand the bidder and the telephonic connection between the system and theseller to provide the connection between the bidder and the seller. Inthis way, the direct telephonic contact information of the bidder isshielded from the seller to provide anonymity for the bidder.

For example, when a user calls the toll free number (2003) (e.g., a1-800 number or a phone number local to the user), the system identifiesthe seller based on the phone number dialed by the user (e.g., based onthe toll free number and/or the extension dialed by the user). Thesystem looks up a phone number of the seller (e.g., from a database) andinitiates a separate phone call to the seller. Then, the system joinsthe phone connection to the seller with the phone connection to the userto connect the seller and the user while maintaining anonymity for boththe seller and the user. The user can speak with the seller to getadditional information needed to place bid or buy. The seller can alsotalk to the user to establish a relationship which may bring otheropportunities for the seller. Thus, the seller may treat the phoneconnection as a lead to business.

In one embodiment, extensions are used in order to reduce the number of800 numbers or local numbers used to provide for the sellers in themarketplace. For example, a root phone number can be used to be abranded experience, such as in 1-800-SHOP-NOW ext. 567. This root numberplus extension enables a caller to contact a particular seller. Inaddition, based on the root number called customized telephonic IVRprompts can be played to the callers. For example: “Thank you forshopping with Shop Now, we are now connecting you to Seller Bob in theAntiques category. If this is not the seller you'd like to talk to,press # to hear a full directory.” Customized IVR prompts can also beprovided at the end of the call: “Now that you've finished your callwith Seller Bob, press 1 to hear descriptions of items for sale in thissame category.”

In one embodiment, when the user clicks the call button (2005), thesystem shows a user interface (2101), illustrated in FIG. 21, to receivea callback phone number to connect a customer to a seller.

In one embodiment, the user interface (2101) is presented in a dialogbox, which contains entry boxes (2103) to receive the telephone numberof the user so that the system can call back the user at the userspecified telephone number to establish the connection between theserver and the user.

In one embodiment, the user interface (2101) further includes a checkbox (2107) to allow the user to specify whether or not the user is usingthe phone line to access the network with a modem. After the userpresses the submit button (2105), the information collected in the userinterface (2101) is transmitted to the system.

If the user is using the phone line to access the network, the systemcan wait for a period of time to allow the user to free up the phoneline before trying to call the user at the user specified phone number;otherwise, the system may call the user immediately after receiving thephone number of the user (or after the system establishes the telephoneconnection with the seller).

In one embodiment, telephonic connection to at least one of the user andthe seller is made through a VoIP connection. In one embodiment, atleast part of the telephonic connection between the user and the selleris carried via VoIP. In one embodiment, a VoIP connection can alsoconnect the caller directly to the seller to obviate the need for asecond phone call.

In one embodiment, when the call button (e.g., 2005) is pressed, a VoIPapplication is invoked to request a telephonic connection to the seller.The request includes a reference to the seller; and the system uses thereference to established a telephonic connection to the seller accordingto the availability and schedule of the seller.

In one embodiment, the call button (or other part of the auctionlisting) provides the current availability information of the seller. Inone embodiment, the call button and/or the phone number are presentedonly when the seller is available to take the call according to theschedule and instruction received from the seller.

In one embodiment, when the seller is not currently available to take acall (e.g., according to the schedule of the seller, or according to anindication from the seller at a time near when the connection isrequested), the system can provide the user with an option to accept acallback within a time window and/or an option to schedule anappointment.

In one embodiment, if the seller is not available to take a call at thetime the listing is being requested, the system provide an option toaccept a callback within a time window and/or an option to schedule anappointment in the listing. For example, the listing may show a “callback in a time window” button and/or a “make a call appointment” button.

The connection methods can also be applied to other types of real timecommunication systems, such as instant messaging, video conferencing,etc. In one embodiment, various communication channels, such as SMS,chat (text and/or voice), instant message, email, video conference,voice mail, email, etc., can be provided when requested. In oneembodiment, multiple channels of communication can be provided incombination.

The real time communication connection (e.g., telephonic connection,instant messaging connection, video conferencing connection, etc.)allows the user of the auction system to obtain additional and immediateinformation that is not on the listing. The user can talk to the sellerto ask question about auction item, which can be especially helpful forhigh priced or complex products where details may be difficult to conveythoroughly on Web.

In one embodiment, the marketplace uses the communication system tocontrol “gray-market activity.” Such gray-market activity involvesbuyers and sellers contacting each other outside the bounds of thesystem, such as dialing a cell-phone number on a listing, and arrangingsales and payment directly, enabling them to avoid paying the commissionfees of the marketplace. To prevent this, the marketplace can use thesystem to record phone calls and identify those sellers partaking ingray-market activity, thereby recouping commission fees or banning themfrom the marketplace. The marketplace can monitor calls selectively orrandomly, or only the calls of suspicious sellers. The marketplace coulduse voice-recognition software to automatically listen for wordsindicating gray-market activity, such as “payment” or “credit-cardnumber.” Upon hearing such words, the recorded conversation can beautomatically highlighted to a manager for review.

In one embodiment, the telephonic connection is free of charge to theuser of the auction system.

In one embodiment, the sellers can use the auction listing as amarketing platform. Thus, the telephonic calls generated from theauction listing serve as a kind of advertisement that can be valuable tothe sellers.

FIG. 22 illustrates a system to provide an anonymous real timecommunication channel to connect a bidder to a seller according to oneembodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 22, the web-based auction(2203) provides an online marketplace for the seller (2207) to reach thebidder (2205). The web-based auction (2203) provides a listing thatincludes information for the bidders to request a real timecommunication connection to the seller (2207) through the system (2201).

In one embodiment, a request for the real time communication can be aphone call to a phone number of the system (2201) which is assigned tothe seller (2207), or a message sent to the system (2201) (e.g., througha web site, through a VoIP system, through an SMS messaging system, orthrough other types of communication protocols).

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a user interface to manageavailability for receiving phone calls according to one embodiment ofthe present invention.

In one embodiment, the system to make the telephonic connection is veryflexible and feature rich. They system provides the capability forautomatic call-back, real time call tracking, and/or availabilitymanagement & scheduling.

In one embodiment, the system can store multiple phone numbers of theseller. The system can intelligent route a call to the seller accordingto the preference of the seller. For example, in FIG. 23, the seller maychoose a preferred phone number from a set of phone numbers of theseller to receive incoming calls using the option group (2311) in theuser interface (2301). The seller may indicate whether the seller iscurrently available to take calls or is to be taken “off call” (e.g.,using the check box (2309)).

In one embodiment, the system allows the seller to specify the scheduleto receive calls; and the schedule (2303) is displayed to the seller ina graphical way to help the seller to manage calls.

In one embodiment, the user interface (2301) includes a link (2313)which can be selected to display a user interface (not shown in FIG. 23)to manage the schedule (2303).

In one embodiment, the user interface (2301) includes a summary of callactivities. Buttons (2307 and 2305) can be selected to show graphicalrepresentation of the call activities and further details of the callactivities.

In one embodiment, the phone call passes through the system, whichallows the collection of a wide array of information, includingday/date/time of calls, duration of calls, call status (answered, noanswer, busy), inbound phone numbers, etc.

In one embodiment, the sellers are charged for the telephonic connectionservice on a per auction item basis, or a per month/year basis. Theprice may be a function of the value of the auctioned item. An pricingexample is shown below.

Item Value Per Auction Per Month Per Year >$1000 $15 $60 $600 $100-$1000$10 $40 $400  $0-$100  $5 $20 $200In one embodiment, the fee for the telephonic connection isautomatically charged to the buyer or seller based on a per-minute usageprice.

In one embodiment, the telephonic lead can be valuable to the sellers;and the sellers are charged for the telephonic lead on a per call basis(or a per qualified call/phone lead basis). For example, when multiplecalls are made from the same user to the same seller within a period oftime (e.g., a day or a week), or in connection with the same auctioneditem, these multiple calls can be considered as one qualified call or asingle phone lead.

In one embodiment, the phone leads are auctioned so that the sellers mayspecify the price bids on the phone leads they will receive.

In one embodiment, the sellers may provide services. It may be tougherfor buyer and seller to discern the value of a service (a roofingproject, unclogging a sink etc.). Some services may be harder todispense electronically. Many times a face-to-face visit is needed. Mostservices cannot be shipped. Frequently, payment of service is determinedand made after the service is performed, while the price of a physicalobject may be determined before the delivery. However, sellers ofservices have higher regard for relationship with Buyer for the reasonof repeat activity. Thus, providing a pay-per-call performance basedlisting service can be very attractive to such sellers.

In one embodiment, phone leads to be generated from presentinginformation (e.g., auction listings, service listings, advertisements,etc.) on behalf of the sellers/advertisers are auctioned. In oneembodiment, the seller pays for leads that are email based. For example,a customer may fill out a form with his needs and specifications for theproject; and the seller pays for the lead that arrives via email (orSMS, or instant message). In one embodiment, the seller who bids themost per lead, among the relevant sellers, can be selected to receivethe best placement in the marketplace.

In one embodiment, service providers are provided with an onlinemarketplace to bid for phone calls from qualified prospective customersin their geographic region. The service providers bid for phone callswhere the bid price will efficiently capture the long term value of newclients and maximize revenue to online market place.

In one embodiment, the bidding for the phone loads is based on alocalized environment that connects service providers with buyers intheir local market. In the business practices of many service providers,the phone connection is a primary contact point with prospectiveclients. Thus, the value of the phone leads conforms to the businesspractice of the business practices.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of a user interface to provide telephonicconnections for listings according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 24, the user can search for or browse listings usingthe navigation panel (2403) in the user interface (2401), which can beimplemented as a web page. The selected list of listings are presentedwith information to request a telephonic connection, such as a telephonenumber (2405) that can be used to call a server which can identify theseller from the telephone number (2405) dialed and then arrange atelephonic connection between the caller and the seller.

In one embodiment, sellers (e.g., service providers) create listings inspecific categories and geographies, and bid for phone calls fromconsumers. The listings may or may not relate to an auctioned item(e.g., a product and/or a service). For example, the listing may be anauction listing that is designed as an advertisement tool to attractpotential customers. The auction listing may be about a specific servicepackage or product to be auctioned. Alternatively, for example, thelisting may be a simple advertisement listing that describing theservice offered without an auctioned item.

In one embodiment, the listing presented to the customers includesreferences to initiate calls in a way trackable to measure the number ofcalls generated from presenting the listing. For example, a referenceembedded in the listing can be a 1-800 phone number of a system, whichis assigned/associated to the seller. When the 1-800 phone number iscalled, the system connects/forwards/redirects the call to an actuallyphone number of the seller (advertiser). The system can capture the callactivities and determine the number of phone leads generated by theadvertisement. The sellers (advertisers) can then be charged at the ratethey have specified. Alternatively, a reference embedded in the listingcan be a phone number that has an extension. Alternatively, a referencecan be a SIP address for the initiation of a VoIP-based call.Alternatively, a reference can be a user ID of a messaging system.

In one embodiment, sellers (e.g., service providers) are provided with avariety of tools that allow them to: create and modify listings,designate category and desired geography, manage bids, track callactivity, etc.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a user interface to submit bids ontelephonic leads according to one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 25, the user interface (2501) includes a list of bids for phonecalls generated from the advertisement (e.g., auction listing, servicelisting, product listing, etc.) in a geography (e.g., Los Angeles,Calif. (2515)).

In one embodiment, the user interface allows the seller to selectivelyview the bids in a hierarchy of categories. The example in FIG. 25 showsa list of top bids from the category “contractors”. The user interface(2501) shows a link (2517) allows the seller to view the bids in thesub-category “Plumbers” of the category “contractors”, since the listingof the seller (“Jim's Professional Plumbing”) (2519) is in thesub-category “Plumbers” of the category “contractors”.

The user interface (2501) shows a list of top bids from the selectedcategory/topic of listings, such as a bid of $13/call (2503) from “L.A.Roofing Specialists”. The seller (of “Jim's Professional Plumbing”) maychoose to view bids in different categories to decide a bid (2505) forphone leads generated from the listing “Jim's Professional Plumbing”.

In one embodiment, the listings are organized according to a hierarchyof categories or topics. A listing may be in one or more of thecategories or topics. The bids are presented according to the categoriesor topics and the geographical areas.

Alternatively, a search based on a match to key words can be used toselect the list of bids for comparison. For example, a listing mayinclude a number of key words, a title, a description, etc., that aresearchable. When one or more key words are submitted as the searchcriteria, a search engine can determine matching listings that aresorted according to the relevancy of the listings to the submittedsearch criteria. The search criteria may include a specification of alocal geographical area of interest. Thus, the seller can perform asearch in a way similar to a user of a search engine to view the bids ofthe potential competitors. Using the bid information for similar sellersfound in a search, the seller can determine an appropriate price bid forthe phone leads received from the listing of the seller.

In FIG. 25, the seller can specify when the bid of the seller expires.For example, the seller may choose to be promoted whenever the seller isavailable or stop being promoted after a specified amount has beenspent, using the option buttons (2509 and 2511). The entry box (2507)can be used to specify an advertisement budget. Various other criteriacan also be used to specify when the bid expires. For example, the bidexpiration can be based on a time period, or based on number of callsreceived, or based on availability of the seller to receive calls, orbased on the advertisement budget (e.g., for each week, for each month,for each year, etc.), or a combination of criteria.

FIG. 26 illustrates an example of a user interface to track callactivities according to one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.26, a specific time period can be specified to view the call activities.In one embodiment, a seller can have multiple listings; and the userinterface allows the seller to view call activities related to aparticular listing or call activities for all of the listings of theseller. The seller may choose a type of calls as a filter in viewing thecall activities. In one embodiment, the displayed details of the callactivities include call date, amount charged, the next highest bid,amount bid, etc.

In one embodiment, the seller can specify an amount of maximum bid for alisting to allow the system to automatically bid for the seller. Forexample, the system can automatically adjust the bid amount, in anindividual opportunity to present listings, to increase the position ofthe listing of the seller without exceeding the amount of maximum bid.

In one embodiment, the seller may further specify a desired position forthe automatic bid. For example, the seller may wish to be on the topfive; and the system may automatically adjust the bid to attempt to movethe seller to the top five in a search result, under the constraint ofthe amount of maximum bid.

In one embodiment, a system includes various modules to provide theservices according to embodiments of the present invention. For example,a system may include one or more of:

1. advertisement/listing creation and modification module;

2. payment specification (fixed or bidding) capability;

3. intelligent listings serving module;

4. call switching and tracking module;

5. call activity data warehouse and reporting module; and

6. payment collection, remittance module.

In one embodiment, the modules are configurable, reliable and scalablewith multiple access points.

FIGS. 27-29 show flow diagrams of methods to connection people accordingto embodiments of the present invention.

In FIG. 27, operation 2701 presents to a first entity a second price bidfor a telephonic lead to be generated from presenting information onbehalf of a second entity. Operation 2703 receives from the first entitya first price bid for a telephonic lead to be generated from presentinginformation on behalf of the first entity. Operation 2705 presentsadvertisement information (e.g., auction listing, service listing, etc.)on behalf of the first entity, including information to initiate atelephonic connection to the first entity in a way trackable to measurea number of telephonic calls generated from presenting the advertisementinformation. Operation 2707 bills the first entity according to thefirst price bid and a measurement of a number of telephonic callsgenerated from presenting the advertisement information on behalf of thefirst entity.

In FIG. 28, operation 2801 presents auction information related to anauctioned item of an entity, including information to request atelephonic connection to the entity but no direct telephonic contactinformation of the entity. Operation 2803 receives from a customer arequest made according to the information to request a telephonicconnection to the entity. Operation 2805 establishes a telephonicconnection between the customer and the entity through making separateconnections to the customer and the entity and joining the separateconnections. The separate connections can be initiated via VoIP.Alternatively, in response to the request from the customer, a VoIPsystem may be used to directly connect the customer to the entity, withor without the use of a circuit switched network in the connection.

In FIG. 29, operation 2901 conducts online auction of telephonic leadsto be generated from presenting information to receive a first price bidfrom a first entity and a second price bid from a second entity.Operation 2903 determines a way to present information on behalf of oneor more of the first entity and the second entity based at leastpartially on the first price bid and the second price bid (e.g., theorder of placement, the selection for placement, etc). Operation 2905provides information in the determined way for presentation on behalf ofone or more of the first entity and the second entity, the informationin the determined way including at least one of: first information toinitiate a telephonic connection to the first entity and secondinformation to initiate a telephonic connection to the second entity. Inone embodiment, the information to initiate a telephonic connection issuch that telephonic connections initiated using the information can bemonitored to determine the number of phone calls generated frompresenting listings on behalf of an entity, which is then chargedaccording the price bid and the phone calls generated. The informationcan be a telephone number to a server and assigned to the entity, or alink to a server with a reference to the entity and/or the listing, or abutton with a reference to the entity and/or the listing, etc.

In one embodiment, an advertiser can specify one or more rules forbidding on the price per communication leads generated from theadvertisement; and the system is configured to determine the actual bidor bid instant for the advertiser according to the rules. For example,an advertiser may specify a maximum bid for the price per call and allowthe system to determine the actual price per call depending on the pricebids of competitors.

FIG. 30 illustrates a method to determine a bid instance based on amaximum bid. In FIG. 30, the maximum bid (3005) of the advertisement isillustrated together with competitor bids (e.g., 3001, . . . , 3003,3009, . . . ) in a sorted order. Since the maximum bid (3005) of theadvertisement is lower than some of the competitor bids (e.g., 3001, . .. , 3003), the actual bid will be lower than these competitor bids(e.g., 3001, . . . , 3003).

In FIG. 30, the competitor bid (3009) is the highest among thecompetitor bids that are lower than or equal to the maximum bid of theadvertisement (3005). In one embodiment, the system is configured to setthe actual bid for the advertiser such that the actual bid is higherthan the bids of as many of the competitors as possible (e.g., to obtaina best possible rank, or other targeted ranks, in the list ofcompetitors that are sorted according to the price bid); and the systemoptimizes the actual bid to the lowest possible bid to achieve theresult. Thus, the system automatically calculates the bid instance(3007) that is one increment above the highest one among the competitorbids that are no higher than the maximum bid of the advertiser. In oneembodiment, the increment can be 1 cent, or 25 cents, or other values,such as one percent of the difference between the maximum bid of theadvertisement and the next highest bid 3009. Since the maximum bid(3005) of the advertisement is the upper limit, the bid instance (3007)is equal to the maximum bid (3005) of the advertisement if the additionof the one increment would cause the bid instant to exceed the maximumbid (3005) of the advertisement.

The advertiser may instruct the system to obtain the second bestpossible rank, or other targeted positions, in the list sorted accordingto the price bid. The ranking of the advertisements may not be strictlyaccording to the price bids. The ranking of the advertisement may be afunction of a plurality parameters, including the price bid. In such aranking scheme, the bid instance can be optimized as the lowest valuethat can achieve the desired rank position for the advertisement underthe constraint of the maximum bid and other limits.

In one embodiment, the advertiser is provided with the option ofreceiving a notification (e.g., via phone, voice mail, email, instantmessage, SMS, etc.) when the maximum bid of the advertisement is outbidand cannot achieve a specific position target (e.g., top 5 in the rankedlist).

In one embodiment, a bid instance is determined when the advertisementis selected or ranked for presentation to a customer. The advertisementmay be ranked against competitors for selectively presentation to thecustomer, or for presenting the customer in a particular order orlayout. The bid instance can be tracked and later identified as a pricefor a communication lead when the customer responses to theadvertisement.

Alternatively, bid instances may not be precisely tracked; and acommunication lead may be found to be associated with multiple bidinstances. At the time of the communication lead which is generated as aresponse to the advertisement, one or more bid instances are selected(e.g., according to a time window, the demand partner who presented theadvertisement, and/or other tracked parameters); and a price for thecommunication lead is determined based on the selected bid instances.For example, the price may be determined as an average (e.g. weightedaverage) of the selected bid instances. For example, the price may bedetermined to be the highest one of the selected bid instances.

In one embodiment, at the time of selecting or ranking theadvertisements, the maximum bid is used without having to determine anactual bid instance. The advertisement is selected or ranked forpresentation based on the maximum bid. At the time of a communicationlead responsive to the advertisement, a bid instance is determined basedon a set of rules to select competitors. For example, after a phone callfrom the customer is received in response to the advertisement, a bidinstance can be determined based on known competition at the time of thephone call. The rules to select the competitors may be based on thekeywords or categories of the advertisement, the geographic area of theadvertisement, the query history of the advertisement, and/or otherinformation, such as availability of the competitors to take the phonecall.

FIGS. 31-33 illustrate processes to determine a price for acommunication lead according to embodiments of the present invention.

In FIG. 31, a bid instance (3105) that is determined near the time ofthe presentation of the advertisement is associated, in the database(3111), with the reference (3103) that is assigned to facilitatecommunications between the customer and the advertiser and to trackcommunication leads generated from the advertisement. For example, aphone number with or without extension, a SIP URI, a click to callreference, etc., can be used as the reference to track the customer'sresponse to the advertisement.

In FIG. 31, during the selection and/or ranking of the advertisement(3101) for presentation to the customer (3113), the bidding rule (3109)specified by the advertiser, such as the maximum bid, is used todetermine the bid instance (3105). In one embodiment, the reference(3103) is particularly assigned for the instance presentation of theadvertisement (3101) to the customer (3113). In response to theadvertisement, the customer (3113) can initiate communications with theadvertiser using the assigned reference, via the connectionprovider/tracker (3115). The assigned reference used to initiate thecommunications can be used to look up the bid instance (3105) and theadvertiser's contact (3107) (and/or other parameters tracked via theassigned reference 3103). The connection provider/tracker (3115)facilitates communications between the customer (3113) and theadvertiser (3117) using the advertiser's contact (3107) that is lookedup from the database (3111) based on the assigned reference (3103).Thus, the price for the communication lead generated from theadvertisement is identified to be the bid instance that is determined atthe time of the presentation of the advertisement and identified usingthe assigned reference at the time of the communication lead.

Alternatively, the bid instance and/or the advertiser's contact can beprovided to the customer together with the advertisement as an encodedand/or encrypted portion of the assigned reference. For example, the bidinstance can be encoded/encrypted in the extension portion of a phonenumber, or in the SIP URI, or in the click-to-call reference.

In one embodiment, the bid instances for the corresponding presentationinstances of the advertisement are not individually tracked, asillustrated in FIG. 32. Thus, an assigned reference (3103) maycorrespond to a number of bid instances (3205) that are determined atthe corresponding time instances for the presentations of theadvertisement. For example, the advertisement may be presented multipletimes to the customer (and/or other customers) (e.g., via the same mediachannel); and the bid instances may be different for the multiplepresentations, due to variations such as a change of the bidding rule(3109) by the advertiser, bid changes by competitors, and/or the changesin search criteria for the presentations.

In one embodiment, the price for the communication lead is determinedbased on the set of bid instances that are associated with the assignedreference (3103). For example, a system can be configured to select themost recent bid instance as the price for the communication lead. Forexample, a system can be configured to compute a price for thecommunication lead based on an average of the bid instances; and thecontribution of a bid instance may be weighted based on the elapse timebetween the generation of the bid instance and the generation of thecommunication lead. For example, a system can be configured to selectthe highest bid instance as the price for the communication lead (e.g.,selecting from the candidates that are within a pre-determined timeperiod from the time of the communication lead). In one embodiment, thesystem is configured to maintain the most recent bid instance and usethe most recent bid instance as the price for the communication leaddelivered to the advertiser.

The actual bid instances at the time of the presentations of theadvertisement may not be used at all in the determination of the pricesfor the communication leads generated from advertisement. In oneembodiment, a bid instance is determined at the time of thecommunication lead and then used as the price for the communicationlead, as illustrated in FIG. 33.

In FIG. 33, the advertiser specified bidding rule (3109) (e.g., maximumbid) is used to select and/or rank the advertisement (3101) when thereis an opportunity to present the advertisement (3101) to the customer(3113). At the time of the opportunity, it may not be necessary toevaluate the bid instance, since maximum bid may be sufficient for theselection and/or ranking.

In one embodiment, after the customer (3113) initiates communicationsusing the assigned reference, a bid instance can be determined accordingto the advertiser specified bidding rule (3109) and then used as the feecharged for the advertisement in response to the communication lead. Aset of rules can be used to determine the competitors for thedetermination of the bid instance after the customer (3113) initiatescommunications using the assigned reference.

In one embodiment, an advertiser can associate an advertisement with oneor more categories defined by the system. When an opportunity foradvertising is appropriate for one of the categories of theadvertisement, the advertisement can be a candidate for presentation. Anadvertiser can also associate an advertisement with one or moregeographic areas to limit the availability of the services and/orproducts of the advertisement offered by the advertiser to the specifiedgeographic areas. Thus, the categories and geographic areas of theadvertisement and/or other attributes of the advertisement can be usedto select competitor advertisements for the determination of a bidinstance after the communication lead is initiated.

FIG. 34 illustrates an example to select competitors based on categoriesduring the determination of a price for a communication lead accordingto one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 34, an advertisement(3401) is associated with a number of categories, such as category A(3403) (e.g., Cruises), category B (3405) (e.g., Honeymoon Travel),category X (3407) (e.g., South Pacific Travel). The advertisement (3401)may be presented when the advertising opportunity is for any of thecategories (e.g., 3403-3407) of the advertisement (3401).

In FIG. 34, competitor advertisement N (3417) is in category X (3407)(e.g., South Pacific Travel) and other categories (not shown in FIG.34). Competitor advertisement 1 (3411) is in category A (3403) (e.g.,Cruises) and other categories (not shown in FIG. 34). Competitoradvertisement 2 (3413) is in category A (3403) (e.g., Cruises), categoryB (e.g., Honeymoon Travel), and other categories (not shown in FIG. 34).Competitor advertisement 3 (3415) is in category B (e.g., HoneymoonTravel).

In one embodiment, since each of the advertisements (e.g., 3411-3417)competes with the advertisement (3401) in at least one category, theseadvertisements can be selected as competitor candidates for thedetermination of a bid instance for the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the selection of the competitor candidates is alsobased on the geographic area of the advertisement. FIGS. 35-36illustrate a method to select competitors based on geographic areasduring the determination of a price for a communication lead accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 35, an advertisement (3511) services a geographic area (3501)(e.g., California). Some of the competitor advertisements (e.g., 3513and 3515) service the same geographic area (3501) (e.g., California) asthe advertisement (3511). Some of the competitor advertisements (e.g.,3517) service an geographic area (e.g., 3503 United States) thatincludes the geographic areas (3501) of the advertisement (3511). Someof the competitor advertisements (e.g., 3517) service an geographic area(e.g., 3505, such as Los Angeles) that includes a portion but not all ofthe geographic areas (3501) (e.g., California) of the advertisement(3511).

In one embodiment, the competitors that service at least a portion ofthe geographic area of the advertisements, such as competitors 3513,3515, 3517, and 3519, are selected as the competitor candidates for thedetermination of a bid instance for the advertisement. Alternatively,the competitors that service at least the entire geographic area of theadvertisement, such as competitors 3513, 3515, and 3517 but not 3519,are selected as the competitor candidates for the determination of a bidinstance for the advertisement.

FIG. 36 shows a way to decide whether or not to include the localcompetitors in determining the price for the communication lead. A localcompetitor serves a portion but not all of the geographic area of theadvertisement. In FIG. 36, the maximum bid (3601) of the advertisementis used to determine the competitor bid (3603) that is the highest amongthe competitors that service the geographic areas that at least includethe entire geographic area of the advertisement, but not higher than themaximum bid (3601) of the advertisement. According to the competitor bid(3603), the system can identify a portion of the competitors, each ofwhich has a bid not lower than the competitor bid (3603) and services atleast a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement. Forexample, in FIG. 36, such competitors include m local competitors ingeographic areas each of which includes some but not all of thegeographic area of the advertisement, and n non-local competitoradvertisements in geographic areas each of which at least includes thegeographic area of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, whether or not to select the local competitors thatservice part but not all of the geographic area of the advertisement isbased on a ratio between the customer population in certain local areasof geographic area of the advertisement and the customer population inthe entire geographic area of the advertisement. In one embodiment, thecustomer population and/or the ration between customer population isestimated based on the population of people living in the correspondinggeographic area.

In one embodiment, a local customer population is determined in theunion of the geographic areas of local competitor advertisements thathave bids higher than the competitor bid (3603). The local customerpopulation is compared to the customer population in the geographic areaof the advertisement. If the ratio between the local customer populationand the customer population in the geographic area of the advertisementis less than a pre-determined threshold value, the local competitors areexcluded; and the price for the communication lead is one incrementabove the competitor bid (3603). If the ratio between the local customerpopulation and the customer population in the geographic area of theadvertisement is more than the pre-determined threshold value, the localcompetitors are included; and the price for the communication lead isone increment above the bid of a competitor which services at least aportion of the geographic area of the advertisement, which may be alocal competitor or a non-local competitor.

For example, one advertisement A has a maximum bid of $100 in the entireUnited States. It has competitor B having a maximum bid of $90 inDanville, competitor C having a maximum bid of $20 in the United States,competitor D having a maximum bid of $19 in New York, competitor Ehaving a maximum bid of $18 in Los Angeles, and competitor F having amaximum bid of $17 in Chicago. In the non-local competitors whichservice the entire geographic area of advertisement A (the UnitedStates), the competitor C has the next highest bid, $20. Among the localcompetitors B, D, E and F, each of which services a local region of thegeographic area of the advertiser A, the competitor B is determined tohave a bid higher than the identified next highest bid, $20. The localcustomer population in the geographic area of competitor B, Danville, iscompared to the customer population in the geographic area ofadvertisement A, the United States. If the ratio between the customerpopulation in Danville and the customer population in the United Statesis smaller than the threshold, the local competitors (e.g., competitorB) are considered irrelevant; and the price per call for theadvertisement A is determined based on the next highest bid among thenon-local competitors that service the entire geographic area ofadvertisement A. In this example, the next highest bid among thenon-local competitors is $20 of competitor C, serving the entire UnitedStates. If the ratio between the customer population in Danville and thecustomer population in the United States is larger than the threshold,the local competitors (e.g., competitor B) are considered relevant; andthe price per call for the advertisement A is determined based on thenext highest bid among the local and non-local competitors that serviceat least a portion of the geographic area of advertisement A, which is$90 from competitor B serving Danville.

In another example, one advertisement A has a maximum bid of $100 in theentire United States. It has competitor B having a maximum bid of $90 inNew York, competitor C having a maximum bid of $80 in Los Angeles,competitor D having a maximum bid of $21 in Chicago, competitor E havinga maximum bid of $20 in the United States, and competitor F having amaximum bid of $19 in San Francisco Bay Area. In the non-localcompetitors that serve the entire geographic area of advertisement A,the competitor E has the next highest bid, $20. Among the localcompetitors B, C, D and F, each of which services a local region of thegeographic area of the advertiser A, the competitors B, C and D aredetermined to have bids higher than this identified next highest bid,$20. The local customer population in the union of the geographic areasof the local competitors B, C and D (the union of New York, Los Angelesand Chicago) is compared to the customer population in the geographicarea of advertisement A (the United States). If the ratio between thelocal customer population in the union of New York, Los Angeles andChicago and the customer population in the United States is smaller thanthe threshold, the local competitors (e.g., competitor B) are consideredirrelevant; and the price per call for the advertisement A is determinedbased on the next highest bid among the competitors that service theentire geographic area of advertisement A, which is $20 from competitorE serving the United States. If the ratio between the customerpopulation in the union of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago and thecustomer population in the United States is larger than the threshold,the local competitors (e.g., competitor B) are considered relevant; andthe price per call for the advertisement A is determined based on thenext highest bid among the local and non-local competitors that serviceat least a portion of the geographic area of advertisement A, which is$90 from competitor B serving New York.

In one embodiment, when determining the local customer population, thelocal competitors that have price bids higher than the maximum bid(3601) of the advertisement are excluded. Thus, the local customerpopulation is determined to be the customer population in the union ofthe geographic areas of local competitors each of which services aportion but not all of the geographic area of the advertisement and hasa bid equal to or higher than the competitor bid (3603) but no higherthan the maximum bid (3601) of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, whether or not to select the local competitors thatservice part but not all of the geographic area of the advertisement isbased on a ratio between local competitors and other competitors. Forexample, in FIG. 36, the ratio between the m local competitors and the nnon-local competitors can be compared to a threshold to determinewhether the m local competitors should be included in the competitorcandidates in determining the bid instance. For example, when the numberof the local competitors is high enough to cause the ratio (e.g., m:n,or m/(m+n), or m/(m+n+1),) to be larger than the threshold, the localcompetitors are included as the competitors of the advertisement; whenthe number of the local competitors is low enough to cause the ratio tobe smaller than the threshold, the local competitors are excluded fromthe competitors of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, when determining the population of competitors forthe calculation of the ratio, the competitors that have bids higher thanthe maximum bid (3601) of the advertisement can be excluded. Thus, thethreshold is compared to the ratio of 1) the local competitoradvertisements that have bids between the competitor bid (3603) and themaximum bid (3601) of the advertisement and that include some but notall of the geographic area of the advertisement and 2) the non-localcompetitor advertisements that have bids between the competitor bid(3603) and the maximum bid (3601) of the advertisement and that at leastinclude the geographic area of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the system determines the weighted average of 1) thecompetitor bid (3603) that is the highest among the competitors thatservice the geographic areas that at least include the geographic areaof the advertisement but no higher than the maximum bid (3601) of theadvertisement and 2) the local competitor bid that is highest among thecompetitors that service some but not all of the geographic area of theadvertisement but no higher than the maximum bid (3601) of theadvertisement. The communication lead can be charged according to theweighted average. The weight can be based upon the correspondingpopulation that have a price bid higher than a threshold (e.g., thecompetitor bid 3603, or the lower one of the two).

In one embodiment, the system attempts to remove as many competitors asreasonable, based on the attributes of the advertisement and/or otherinformation available at the time of the communication lead, indetermining the bid instance. The advertiser is charged a fee accordingto the determined bid instance for the advertisement in response to thecommunication lead. For example, in one embodiment, the availability ofadvertisers at the time of the communication lead is also used toeliminate competitors who are not available for real time communicationat the time of the communication lead. For example, a query log can beused in one embodiment to determine one or more candidate queries thatcause the advertisement to be presented; and the candidate queries canbe used to select the competitor advertisements for the determination ofthe bid instance.

FIG. 37 illustrates a query log which can be used to determine a pricefor a communication lead according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 37, the query log (3711) includes time information(e.g., 3711) indicating the instance of time when the query is receivedor performed, the query (e.g., 3713), and identifications ofadvertisement(s) (e.g., 3715) returned as a response to the query.

In one embodiment, the query log can be searched to determine the lastquery that returned the advertisement as a response to the query; andthe last query can be performed again to determine the competitors atthe time of the communication lead and to determine the bid instancebased on the price bids of the competitor.

Alternatively, the query log can be search to identify one or morequeries that are within a time window (e.g., from the time of thecommunication lead, or from the time of last query that returns theadvertisement) and that returned the advertisement as responses. Theidentified queries can be performed again to select one set ofcompetitors, based on which a bid instance is determined. Alternatively,each of the identified queries can be performed to determine a set ofcompetitor and thus a corresponding bid instance; and the bid instancesare combined (e.g., via a time based weighted average) to compute theprice of the communication lead.

In one embodiment, a maximum bid specified by the advertiser is a bidthe advertiser is willing to pay for a communication lead; and thesystem may charge the advertiser for a communication lead at a pricelower than the bid, depending on the price bids of the competitors and aset of per-determined rules. In one embodiment, the system can offer tomake an effort to find a justifiable low price based on the price bidsof the competitors; however, the system is not obligated to bid for theadvertiser in a particular way. In one embodiment, a fixed bid by theadvertiser is considered the maximum bid; and the system offers possiblediscounts to the advertiser, based on the price bids of the competitors,at the time of the communication lead when determining the fee that ischarged for the advertisement, in response to the delivery of thecommunication lead.

In one embodiment, the system is configured with a minimum price for acommunication lead. When a bid instance is determined to be lower thanthe minimum bid, the communication lead is charged for according to theminimum price.

FIG. 38 illustrates a process to provide pay for performanceadvertisement according to one embodiment of the present invention. InFIG. 38, an advertisement is provided (3801) to customers on behalf of aspecific party (e.g., advertiser, adviser, seller, service provider).Communications between the party and a customer are facilitated (3803)via the reference that is included in the advertisement. The referencemay include a phone number without an extension, a phone number with anextension, a uniform resource identifier, or a click-to-call reference.The party is charged (3805) according to a price bid specified by theparty in response to a lead to communications between the party and thecustomer facilitated via the reference.

In one embodiment, a fee is determined according to the price bid and atleast one predetermined rule; and the party is charged the fee inresponse to the lead. For example, at the time of the lead, a competitoradvertisement can be searched for to determine the fee based on a pricebid of the competitor advertisement. The search may be based on a queryidentified according to search log data, the geographic area of theadvertisement, and/or categories of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, a highest price bid is determined amongadvertisements covering at least the geographic area of theadvertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bidspecified by the party. A ratio is determined between 1) advertisementscovering at least a portion but not all of the geographic area of theadvertisement and having price bids no lower than the highest price bidand 2) advertisements covering at least a portion of the geographic areaand having price bids no lower than the highest price bid. The ratio iscompared with a threshold value to determine the fee. For example, whenthe ratio is larger than the threshold value, the fee is an incrementabove the highest price bid among advertisements covering at least aportion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having pricebids no higher than the price bid specified by the party; and when theratio is smaller than the threshold value, the fee is an increment abovethe highest price bid among advertisements covering at least thegeographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higherthan the price bid specified by the party.

In one embodiment, a highest price bid is determined amongadvertisements covering at least the geographic area of theadvertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bidspecified by the party. A ratio is determined between 1) a customerpopulation in a union of geographic areas of advertisements covering atleast a portion but not all of the geographic area of the advertisementand having price bids no lower than the highest price bid and 2) acustomer population in the geographic area of the advertisement. Theratio is then compared with a threshold value to determine the fee.

In one embodiment, one or more price bids of a set of competitoradvertisements are identified, where the price bids of the competitoradvertisements are no more than the price bid specified by the party;and the fee is determined based on the one or more price bids of the setof competitors. For example, the fee can be a predetermined amount abovethe highest price bid of the set of competitors that have price bidslower than or equal to the price bid specified by the party.

In one embodiment, the competitor advertisements are selected accordingto a geographic area of the advertisement of the party; and thecompetitor advertisements cover at least a portion of the geographicarea of the advertisement of the party. In one embodiment, thecompetitor advertisements are selected according to one or morecategories of the advertisement specified by the party; and thecompetitor advertisements are associated with at least one category ofthe advertisement.

In one embodiment, the fee is determined to be the price bid specifiedby the party if one of the price bids of the competitor advertisementsis equal to the price bid.

In one embodiment, a list of advertisements is searched for in responseto a query request. The list of advertisements, including theadvertisement of the specific party, is provided as a response to thequery request. A price is determined for the advertisement of thespecific party according to price bids of the list of advertisements andassociated with the reference. Thus, in response to the lead, the partyis charged the determined price. In one embodiment, the determined priceis identified based on the reference used to facilitate thecommunications between the party and the customer at the time of thelead.

In one embodiment, at a time of the lead to the communications betweenthe party and the customer, a query is identified based on the referenceand a log of query activities; a search is performed according to theidentified query to obtain a list of advertisements; in the list ofadvertisements, a highest price bid that is no higher than the price bidspecified by the party is identified; a fee is determined based on thehighest price bid; and the party is charged the determined fee for thecommunication lead. For example, when the highest price bid is equal tothe price bid specified by the party, the fee is equal to the price bidspecified by the party; when the highest price bid is lower than theprice bid specified by the party, the fee is one increment above thehighest price bid.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of theinvention, may be implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions referred to as “computer programs.” The computer programstypically comprise one or more instructions set at various times invarious memory and storage devices in a computer, and that, when readand executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computerto perform operations necessary to execute elements involving thevarious aspects of the invention. Moreover, while the invention has beendescribed in the context of fully functioning computers and computersystems, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the variousembodiments of the invention are capable of being distributed as aprogram product in a variety of forms, and that the invention appliesequally regardless of the particular type of machine orcomputer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited torecordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices,floppy and other removable disks, hard disk drives, optical disks (e.g.,Compact Disk Read-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks,(DVDs), etc.), among others.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the variousmodification and changes can be made to these embodiments withoutdeparting from the broader spirit of the invention as set forth in theclaims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regardedin an illustrative sense rather than in a restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: providing, using a computing device, anadvertisement to customers on behalf of a specific party, theadvertisement including a reference; facilitating, using a computingdevice, communications between the party and a customer via thereference; charging, using a computing device, the party a fee accordingto a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead tocommunications between the party and the customer facilitated via thereference, wherein the fee is determined at the time of the leadaccording to the price bid and at least one predetermined rule based ona geographic area of the advertisement; and determining the fee,comprising: determining a highest price bid among advertisementscovering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and havingprice bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party;determining a ratio between advertisements covering a portion of thegeographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no lower thanthe highest price bid, and advertisements covering the geographic areaand having price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and comparingthe ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the reference comprises one of a phone number withoutan extension, a phone number with an extension, a uniform resourceidentifier, and a click-to-call reference.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one predetermined rule includes searching for, atthe time of the lead, a competitor advertisement to determine the feebased on a price bid of the competitor advertisement.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the searching is based on a query identified accordingto search log data.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein: when the ratio islarger than the threshold value, the fee is an increment above thehighest price bid among advertisements covering the portion of thegeographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higherthan the price bid specified by the party; and when the ratio is smallerthan the threshold value, the fee is an increment above the highestprice bid among advertisements covering at least the geographic area ofthe advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bidspecified by the party.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a highest price bid among advertisements covering at leastthe geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higherthan the price bid specified by the party; determining a ratio between:a customer population in a union of geographic areas of advertisementscovering the portion of the geographic area of the advertisement andhaving price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and a customerpopulation in the geographic area of the advertisement; and comparingthe ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining the fee comprises: determining price bidsof a set of competitor advertisements, price bids of the competitoradvertisements being no more than the price bid specified by the party;and determining the fee based on the price bids of the set ofcompetitors.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the pricebids includes determining a highest price bid of the competitoradvertisements; and the fee is a predetermined amount above the highestprice bid of the set of competitors.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: selecting the competitor advertisements according to ageographic area of the advertisement of the party; wherein thecompetitor advertisements cover at least a portion of the geographicarea of the advertisement of the party.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein selecting the competitor advertisements further comprises:selecting the competitor advertisements according to categories of theadvertisement specified by the party; wherein the competitoradvertisements are associated with at least one category of theadvertisement.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the feecomprises determining the fee to be the price bid specified by the partyif one of the price bids of the competitor advertisements is equal tothe price bid.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: searchingfor a list of advertisements in response to a query request, the list ofadvertisements including the advertisement of the specific party;providing the list of advertisements, including the advertisement of thespecific party, as a response to the query request; determining a pricefor the advertisement of the specific party according to price bids ofthe list of advertisements; and associating the price with thereference; wherein charging the party comprises charging the party thedetermined price in response to the lead.
 13. The method of claim 12,further comprising: identifying the price based on the reference used tofacilitate the communications between the party and the customer. 14.The method of claim 1, further comprising: at a time of the lead to thecommunications between the party and the customer: identifying a querybased on the reference and a log of query activities; performing asearch according to the identified query to obtain a list ofadvertisements; in the list of advertisements, identifying a highestprice bid that is no higher than the price bid specified by the party;and determining a fee based on the highest price bid; wherein chargingthe party comprises charging the party the determined fee.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein: when the highest price bid is equal to theprice bid specified by the party, the fee is equal to the price bidspecified by the party; and when the highest price bid is lower than theprice bid specified by the party, the fee is one increment above thehighest price bid.
 16. A machine readable medium containing instructionswhich when executed on a data processing system cause the system toperform a method, the method comprising: providing an advertisement tocustomers on behalf of a specific party, the advertisement including areference; facilitating communications between the party and a customervia the reference; charging the party according to a price bid specifiedby the party in response to a lead to communications between the partyand the customer facilitated via the reference, wherein the fee isdetermined at the time of the lead according to the price bid and atleast one predetermined rule based on a geographic area of theadvertisement; and determining the fee, comprising: determining ahighest price among advertisements covering at least the geographic areaof the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the pricespecified by the party; determining a ratio between advertisementscovering a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement andhaving price bids no lower than the highest price bid, and advertisementcovering the geographic area and having price bids no lower than thehighest price bid; and comparing the ratio with a threshold value todetermine the fee.
 17. A data processing system, comprising: aprocessor; and a tangible storage medium storing thereon program logicfor the execution by the processor, the program logic comprising: logicfor providing an advertisement to customers on behalf of a specificparty, the advertisement including a reference; logic for facilitatingcommunications between the party and a customer via the reference;’logic for charging the party according to a price bid specified by theparty in response to a lead to communications between the party and thecustomer facilitated via the reference, wherein the fee is determined atthe time of the lead according to the price bid and at least onepredetermined rule based on a geographic area of the advertisement; andlogic for determining the fee, comprising logic for: determining ahighest price bid among advertisements covering at least the geographicarea of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the pricebid specified by the party; determining a ratio between advertisementscovering a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement andhaving price bids no lower than the highest price bids, andadvertisements covering the geographic area and having price bids nolower than the highest price bid; and comparing the ratio with athreshold value to determine the fee.